Another day, another blurb about…the
iPhone! Huzzah! This one’s about a plot thickening though, so perk your ears
up.
Many of those in both the technology and
gaming fields have long recognized the potential for the iPhone and iPod Touch
as a competitive portable gaming device. Indeed the titular device is primed
for gaming; processing power, intuitive controls (touch screen, accelerometer),
a preinstalled user base, and a streamlined application delivery system via
iTunes. Well, seems one of those hotshots over at Cupertino are
thinking along the same lines. Here’s Apple’s vice president of iPod marketing
Greg Joswiak:
“There are already so many games and as we
look at it, to us it really seems this is the future of gameplay. Whereas a lot
of these devices [Nintendo DS and Sony PSP] are more in the past. And a big
part of that is not just the device itself, which is easier to carry, and has
the touch display and accelerometer which is great for gameplay, but it’s the
electronic distribution of the apps as well.”
Joswiak goes on to further compare the iPod
Touch with the DS, citing that the “3D graphic power here [in the iPod Touch]
is significantly greater” than that of Nintendo’s handheld. Take that number
one selling portable gaming device! But hey, those guys are still peddling
cartridges! Oh the humanity!
What Apple has done here, by not initially
addressing the gaming capacity for the iPhone and iPod Touch, is they’ve donned
the garb of the underdog. ‘Oh, look, it can play games too. That’s neat!’ They
knew what they had, the potential there. Now their in the process of casting of
the façade and ostensibly taking on the big two (PSP and DS) with a massive
preinstalled user base. And with the App Store they could literally skyrocket
to the forefront of the race overnight.
Just look at ‘Need For Speed Undercover’
[pictured above]. No developer has taken on a Nokia or Samsung handset and said
‘Let’s make a seriously competitive game’ for the simple fact that the hardware
(or controls for that matter) weren’t there. Obviously someone was taking the
gaming potential of this thing seriously and months ago. If all the pieces fall
into place, and a couple of lucky bounces, Apple could have masterminded one
heck of a coup d’etat on the handheld gaming industry.
